RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Burleson County >> Birch >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Birch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Birch and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Birch:
    • 30.382031, -96.677790
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Birch
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Burleson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Burleson County
    • Since Birch is near Lee County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Birch

Communities Also Named Birch ...

We found sixteen communities that are also named Birch.

Within Texas, the name Birch is unique.

Beyond Texas, we know of sixteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Anderson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Birch [Anderson County].
      • Sedgwick County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Birch [Sedgwick County].
    • Michigan
      • Baraga County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Birch [Baraga County].
      • Marquette County
      • This Birch is located in Marquette County and lies 1,227 miles [1,974.7 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Birch that is located in Burleson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marquette County community of Birch.
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Louis County
      • This Birch is located in Saint Louis County and lies 1,170 miles [1,882.9 km]<2> to the north of the Birch that is located in Burleson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Louis County community of Birch.
    • Nebraska
      • Pierce County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Pierce County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pierce County community of Birch.
    • Nevada
      • Eureka County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Birch [Eureka County].
    • North Carolina
      • Surry County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Birch [Surry County].
    • Northwest Territories
      • This Birch lies 2,265 miles [3,645.2 km]<2> to the north northwest of the Birch that is located in Burleson County.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Birch.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Clinton County
      • This Birch is located in Clinton County and lies 1,281 miles [2,061.6 km]<2> to the northeast of the Birch that is located in Burleson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Birch.
    • Virginia
      • Halifax County
      • This Birch is located in Halifax County and lies 1,096 miles [1,763.8 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Birch that is located in Burleson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Halifax County community of Birch.
    • Washington
      • King County
      • This Birch is located in King County and lies 1,775 miles [2,856.6 km]<2> to the northwest of the Birch that is located in Burleson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the King County community of Birch.
    • West Virginia
      • Birch #
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Birch.
    • Wisconsin
      • Ashland County
      • This Birch is located in Ashland County and lies 1,162 miles [1,870.1 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Birch that is located in Burleson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ashland County community of Birch.
      • Chippewa County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Birch [Chippewa County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Birch ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

How Far From Birch to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Birch to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Birch and extending to:

  • Caldwell, which is the Seat of Burleson County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from Birch to Caldwell, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 63 miles [101.4 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,257 miles [2,022.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 72 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,106 miles [11,436 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,833 miles [12,606 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,709 miles [9,187.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Birch could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Birch) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Birch, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Birch to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Birch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.3820, Longitude: -96.6778       In this case, the coordinates for Birch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.532 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.701 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.85 degrees.